


Nobody Should Be Alone on Christmas

by SummerStormFlower



Series: Sonic & Tails Family [5]
Category: Sonic Underground
Genre: Alternate Universe, Brothers, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Party, Christmas Tree, Family Feels, Friendship, Gen, Nine-year-old Silver, Parent Death, Two-year-old Tails
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-17 22:07:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21867124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerStormFlower/pseuds/SummerStormFlower
Summary: Apart of my Sonic & Tails Family stories.Description: It's Christmas and Sonic's young son, Tails, is so excited. Now if only Sonic and his siblings could decide who's hosting this year. And what will happen when Sonic encounters the face of an old friend?
Relationships: Manic the Hedgehog & Sonia the Hedgehog & Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower & Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog & Sonic the Hedgehog
Series: Sonic & Tails Family [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1617721
Kudos: 97





	Nobody Should Be Alone on Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas!!!
> 
> I finally figured out a way to incorporate Shadow into this universe! Isn't that awesome?! No? Just me? That's okay. I'm hoping to get Knuckles, and Amy, and Blaze in here too at some point. I still don't know what Sonic's job should be (any suggestions would be greatly appreciated). I hope this is good. Please enjoy!

Sonic made sure everything was ready before Tails woke up. He put the tree up, got the tub of ornaments out from the closet, and made breakfast as silently as possible. He was excited to see his son’s reaction. Tails had been waiting for this day since the end of October.

Sonic was sipping on his mug of coffee when he heard Tails’ little feel in the hallway. He smiled when Tails appeared in the kitchen, dragging his yellow blanky across the floor, and yawning. 

“Good morning,” Sonic greeted.

“Moring, Daddy,” replied Tails, climbing onto his chair at the table. His sippy cup, which Sonic had put chocolate milk in, and a cookie were there waiting for him. Tails’ eyes lit up.

Sonic usually didn’t let him have sweets the moment after he woke up, but it was a special day, so he’d made an exception.

“Oh Tails, do you know what today is?” he asked.

Tails gasped and grinned. “Is it Chrismis?!”

Sonic laughed. “Not quite. Guess again.”

Tails frowned.

“Why don’t you take a look at the living room?”

Tails took his sippy cup and blanky, then went into the other room.

Sonic waited.

“Twee!” exclaimed Tails’ voice.

Sonic smiled and went into the living room, where Tails was running around their Christmas tree in circles, a giant grin on his face.

“Today is the first day of December,” Sonic said, “You know what that means, don’t you?”

“Decrate! Decrate! Decrate!” Tails cried.

“That’s right. Today we decorate our tree,” Sonic confirmed, chuckling.

Tails rushed to the tub of Christmas ornaments and dug out the star, holding it above his head. 

“Me put star on top!”

Sonic laughed, kneeling down in front of Tails. “Yes, I’ll help you put the star on top. But we save that for last, remember?’

“You pick me up? Put star on?” Tails asked.

“Yes, we’ll put the star on the tree, but not right now.”

“Star now?”

“No, star later.”

“Star now?” Tails grinned playfully.

Sonic grinned back and bopped his nose. “Star later.”

_______________________________________________________________

“You always host!”

“That’s because I’m actually good at it!”

Manic groaned. Tails was singing to Christmas music in the living room, pretending to be a rock star and that his teddy bears were his audience. Manic was tempted to join him and leave his arguing siblings in his kitchen.

“Oh, so that makes you better than me?” Sonic hissed, crossing his arms.

“I never said that!” Sonia shouted, her hands on her hips. 

“But that’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it?!”

“It is not and you know it!”

Manic drummed his fingers on the table, bored. Don’t get him wrong, he didn’t like it when his brother and sister fought. He would have intervened, if he wasn’t expecting them to tell him to shut up, as they usually did in the heat of the moment.

Sonia sighed then, lowering her voice. “Look Sonic, your apartment’s too small. It just makes sense to have Christmas in the castle,” she explained, ever the diplomat. She always knew how to make a valid point. It was one of the things that made her such a good queen.

“So what if my place is small?” said Sonic, “It’s warm, it’s cozy, and maybe we’d be a little squished, but who cares? We lived in a vehicle together for years! It’s nothing we’re not used to.”

“Why are you so adamant about this? You’ve never had a problem with coming to the castle before.”

“That was before I got my own place. I want a chance to be host this year. Come on, Sonia, let me do it for once.”

“Your don’t even have enough chairs!”

“People don’t die from sitting on the floor! Or are you just ashamed that you’re related to a commoner?”

“Of course not! Quit twisting my words, Sonic!”

Finally fed up, Manic stood from his seat. “Let’s just do it here!” he said.

Sonic and Sonia looked at him, blinking in surprise.

“Let’s do Christmas here,” he said again, quieter this time. He looked at both of his siblings, tucking his hands in his jeans pockets. “It’s warm and cozy, but not as small as Sonic’s apartment. And it’s not as big as the castle, but it’s big enough,” he elaborated, raising a sarcastic eyebrow, “Satisfy you?”

He didn’t want to host. It was a lot of responsibility and cooking, both of which Manic hated. He’d been hoping Sonic and Sonia could decide on their own, but the length of their argument had been nearing a whole half hour, and Manic just wanted to know where they are celebrating the holidays.

“That...” Sonia began thoughtfully, “makes sense.” She thought for a minute more, then nodded her head. “I’m okay with that,” she acquiesced.

Manic was impressed. The snobby, rich girl, who always got what she wanted, that Manic met all those years ago had really come a long way.

However, while Sonia had voiced her opinion on the matter, Sonic remained quiet. This problem wasn’t solved yet. 

Manic sighed. “Alright,” he said, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder, “What’s the real reason you wanna host Christmas so badly?”

Sonic averted his gaze, rubbing the back of his head. There was an embarrassed look on his face, Manic realized. 

“Last year, Tails and I didn’t get the chance to celebrate Christmas together,” he started, uncharacteristically timid, “This is going to be our first Christmas and I...” Sonic sighed, dragging his hand down the side of his neck, “I know you’re a perfect hostess, Sonia, but I want to...”

Manic looked at Sonia, watching her immediately soften. Tails was all of their weaknesses.

“Do it, Sonic,” Sonia said with a smile.

Sonic blinked at her, then frowned uncertainly. “You’re sure?’

Sonia nodded, putting her hand on his arm. “This means a lot to you. So go ahead.”

A large grin spread across Sonic’s mouth. “Then we’re having Christmas at my house!”

Manic smiled and sighed an exaggerated breath of relief. “Good. For a second, I thought I actually had to do stuff.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tracy’s Coffee Shop was Sonic’s favourite place to go during his lunch break. He always got a mocha and a sandwich, sat by the window, and watched the clouds. Sometimes he called to check in on Tails at Manic’s.

Today, however, there was someone sitting at his usual table. And it was a familiar head of black and red quills.

“Shadow?”

Shadow looked up at him, looking just as surprised as Sonic was to see him. “Sonic,” he blinked, “it’s been awhile.”

“Sure has! I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” Sonic smiled, sitting in the chair across from his old friend. “What’s it been? Two, three years?”

“Something like that.”

Sonic had met Shadow on his adventures after freeing the kingdom and rebuilding it with his siblings. They hadn’t gotten along in the beginning, but had learned to after they’d ended up travelling together. They turned out to be pretty great friends.

“So what brings you here?” Sonic asked, taking a bite of his sandwich. “And how long are you staying?”

“Actually, I just moved here,” Shadow replied.

“You did?” Sonic asked, surprised.

“Yup,” Shadow said, popping the ‘p’ at the end, and taking a sip of his coffee. Black and strong, just how Sonic remembered he liked it.

“Well that’s great!” Sonic beamed, already picturing getting together for drinks on weekends (and adding another name on his list of free babysitters). “How are you settling in?”

Shadow shrugged.

Sonic just grinned. Same old Shadow. “So what brought you here?” he asked.

“Work.”

“What are you doing now?”

“Construction.”

“Really?” Sonic raised a brow. “That’s a big change from freelance painter.”

Shadow looked out the window. It was snowing out. “Art wasn’t getting me anywhere. Building things pays better money.”

Sonic frowned. “Since when do you care about money?” Money had never been a problem of Shadow’s, who travelled all over on foot just to find a nice landscape to paint.

“How’s life been treating you?” Shadow suddenly asked.

Sonic blinked, thrown off by the abrupt change in conversation, but taking to it in stride. “Good,” he answered. Then grinned. “I have a kid.”

Shadow snapped his gaze to him, eyes wide. “You have a kid?” he asked incredulously.

“His name’s Tails. He’s two.”

“When the hell did you get married?”

“I adopted.”

“Okay, that sounds more like you.”

Sonic chuckled, digging out his phone from his pocket and swiping to a picture of Tails with a Santa hat on his head and a grin on his face, eyes crinkled with joy. “This is him,” he said, handing his phone to Shadow. 

Shadow’s lips curled in a small smirk, dark eyes soft. “Cute,” he said quietly.

“We’ve been together for a year now,” Sonic began, sighing happily at the flood of memories rushing to front of his mind. He loved Tails so much. He didn’t know how much love he could give, until Tails came into his life. “We’ve hit a few rough patches. Tails has been through a lot for his age. And then there’s my work – makes it difficult to spend time with him. But we’ve come a really long way. We’ve faced every challenge that’s been thrown our way and overcame it, together.” Sonic took his phone back, scrolling through more pictures of his son to show Shadow. The only ones Tails wasn’t grinning in were the ones Sonic had taken of him sleeping.

Then Shadow’s shoulders tensed and he squeezed his eyes shut like he was in pain, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“What’s wrong?” Sonic asked, concern making him forget about his photos.

Shadow sighed, looking like the weight of the world was dragging him down. “Things haven’t been great for me, Sonic. They haven’t even been good.”

Sonic set down his phone. “What happened?”

“My parents died.”

“What?”

“Accident. Six months ago.”

Sonic blinked, shocked and heartbroken for his friend. “Aw Shadow, that sucks.”

Shadow snorted, bland and hollow. “You’re telling me.”

Sonic stared at Shadow for a moment, unsure of how to comfort him. Then, with a genuinely worried heart, he asked, “What about your brother?”

Shadow sighed again, slumping against the lean of his chair. Sonic had never seen him so stressed before. “I’m taking care of him now.”

“By yourself?”

“You’re a single dad.”

Sonic didn’t roll his eyes at Shadow’s snark. He crossed his arms over the tabletop and leaned forward. “How’s he doing?”

“Silver is...” Shadow started, thinking, tapping his nails on the table, “It’s been real hard on him. Kid’s only nine years old. I wish he didn’t have to go through this.”

Sonic nodded. He’d met Silver a handful of times when he was six and seven, and he was a ball of happy energy and curiosity. He probably wasn’t the same kid now that Sonic remembered so fondly.

“Money isn’t good,” Shadow continued, “That’s why I came here and got into construction. But it’s still not good. Silver never complains, but I can tell he’s unhappy. I’ve done everything I can. Even sold all my paint supplies. But it’s not enough.” Shadow dug the heels of his palms against his eyes, clearly trying to get rid of a headache. “Worst part is, I can’t even get Silver a present for Christmas.”

Sonic was quiet, absorbing all this information. He reached over to lay a firm hand on Shadow’s shoulder. He didn’t know what to say.

Then an idea popped in his head.

“Come celebrate Christmas with us,” he said without a lick of hesitation.

Shadow looked up at him, surprised. “Sonic - “

“No seriously,” Sonic said, “Come. Bring Silver, I’m sure it’d mean a lot to him.”

Shadow just looked at him. “Sonic, I don’t wanna impose - “

“Oh shut up, it doesn’t count as imposing if I invited you,” Sonic said with a smile, “Come on. Do it for Silver. Besides, I’m sure he and Tails would love to play together.”

Shadow thought for a moment, emotion flickering in his glassy eyes. Sonic could see bags under them, strengthening his desire to shoo away Shadow’s problems, if only for one evening.

Then finally Shadow sighed, relaxing under Sonic’s hand.

“Thank you, Sonic,” he spoke quietly, but genuinely, expression grateful, and relieved, and even happy.

Sonic just smiled, giving Shadow’s shoulder a squeeze. “Anytime.”

Shadow smiled back. It was small and tired, but it was there. 

Then suddenly, he groaned. “Manic and Sonia are gonna be there, aren’t they?”

Sonic grinned. “Yeah, obviously.”

“Tell them not to drive me insane, would ya?”

“I can try, but I don’t think they’ll listen. They’ve missed you, Shadow. They have all this love they want to smother you with.”

Shadow groaned loudly.

______________________________

Sonic didn’t even have to call Tails. As soon as the oven timer binged, Tails came running into the kitchen.

“Cookie time!”

Sonic chuckled, putting on his oven mitt. “Not quite, bud. First we gotta let them cool,” he explained, taking the cookies out of the oven.

“Den we eat dem?” Tails asked hopefully.

Sonic put the tray on the counter and grinned at his son. “I thought you wanted to do the icing?” he said teasingly.

“Ice dem, den eat dem,” Tails said.

“All by yourself?” Sonic gasped, kneeling down and tickling Tails’ sides.

“Yeah!” Tails giggled, squirming in Sonic’s hold.

Sonic grinned. “Sorry buddy,” he said, “but they aren’t just for you. They’re for everybody.”

“Dat okay,” said Tails, “I share.”

Sonic laughed and kissed his cheek.

When the cookies were cool enough to touch, Tails got the tube of icing from the fridge and Sonic picked him up so he could reach over the counter. He wasn’t quite strong enough to squeeze out the icing, so Sonic helped him. It was a mess, and it seemed like more icing ended up on Tails’ fingers than actually on the cookies, but Tails had fun, and that was all that mattered to Sonic.

_____________________________________________

On Christmas Eve, the apartment was crowded, but everyone was together. Uncle Chuck told jokes and stories, and eventually fell asleep in his rocking chair. Sonia caught Bartleby under the mistletoe. Manic hadn’t left Shadow alone since he’d arrived. Silver had liked Tails right ways, and after a bit, Tails had opened up to him too; now they were playing games together, and although Silver was older, he looked to be having just as much fun as Tails.

By the end of the evening, the two were sure to be best friends.

Sonia helped Sonic cook supper, and Tails and Silver set the table. The food was great and everyone got along. The kids sat in front of Uncle Chuck to hear a Christmas story – the same one he used to read to Sonic as a child. Manic insisted on doing the dishes, so Sonic could listen too. Tails and Silver were completely entranced by the story, and Shadow watched Silver with a smile.

Eventually, Manic and Sonia started singing and Sonic got out his guitar and sung along. There was dancing and laughing. Even old Uncle Chuck cracked a few dance moves until he had to sit down. Shadow stayed seated, no matter how many times Manic tried to pull him up.

It was late when Tails and Silver fell asleep against each other on the couch. Sonia, Manic, Bartleby and Uncle Chuck were staying the night, and after some convincing, Sonic got Shadow to stay too. Sonia and Bartleby took Sonic’s bed. Manic carried the kids’ to Tails’ room, then set up his sleeping bag in the hallway. Uncle Chuck had the spare room, leaving Sonic and Shadow the couch and floor in the living room.

Tomorrow, they’d have breakfast, then open presents, and spend the rest of the day much like they had the evening.

Sonic yawned, getting comfy on the sofa. He’d tried giving it to Shadow, but Shadow was adamant about not letting him have the floor.

‘This is what Christmas is all about’, Sonic thought, on the verge of sleep.

“What is?” Shadow asked, and Sonic realized he’d said it out loud.

With one last yawn, he answered, “making sure no one feels alone.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! Thanks for reading, and thanks to those who leave kudos and comment. Love to all of you! Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!!!


End file.
